Bertram Green of the Royal Navy

By John D Ellis

Bertram Green was born on the Island of Jamaica on the 12^th of August 1884. An apprentice shoemaker by occupation, he enlisted in the Royal Navy in May 1903 and was to serve until discharged on a pension in May 1925. On enlistment he was 5 feet 7” tall (growing to 5 feet 10”) and was described as “a man of colour”. His complexion was also described as “sallow”, which if accurate, indicates that he was of ‘mixed heritage’.

Initially employed as a ‘Domestic’ (a servant), by 1910 he was serving as an Officer’s Cook, a role he was to undertake for the remainder of his service. Bertram Green served in no less than 28 Royal Navy vessels and shore bases during his career. During the First World War he served on HMS Bacchante (at the Battle of Heligoland Bight, 1914), HMS Pembroke (a depot ship at Chatham, on four occasions), HMS Halcyon, HMS Hecla and HMS Phaeton. Bertram Green was subsequently awarded the 1914 Star, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal.

Upon being discharged in 1925 little is known for certain regarding the fate of Bertram Green. However, the registers for Merchant Seaman reveal that a Bertram Green, (born Jamaica c.1884) was employed as a merchant seaman (cook), between 1927 and 1936. Initially registering at Tilbury in January 1928, then in Plymouth later the same year, Bertram Green was washed overboard and drowned whilst serving on the steamer War Sepoy (registered in London, working out of Sheerness) in August 1936.^[1]TNA ADM 171/103. TNA ADM 188/59/361434. Britain, Merchant Seamen, 1918-1941. TNA BT348/1 and BT349. findmypast.co.uk Deaths At Sea, 189 –1972. TNA BT334/0092/218. findmypast.co.uk